Friday, 14 March 2008

What the Doctor Said

I was talking with a friend about this poem which was written by Raymond Carver not long before his death 20 years ago. I can't think of a better piece of writing.

If you hit the Raymond Carver link in the 'Words' column on the right, you can hear Carver reading some of his poems in London in 1987.

What the Doctor Said

He said it doesn't look goodhe said it looks bad in fact real badhe said I counted thirty-two of them on one lung beforeI quit counting themI said I'm glad I wouldn't want to knowabout any more being there than thathe said are you a religious man do you kneel downin forest groves and let yourself ask for helpwhen you come to a waterfallmist blowing against your face and armsdo you stop and ask for understanding at those momentsI said not yet but I intend to start todayhe said I'm real sorry he saidI wish I had some other kind of news to give youI said Amen and he said something elseI didn't catch and not knowing what else to doand not wanting him to have to repeat itand me to have to fully digest itI just looked at himfor a minute and he looked back it was thenI jumped up and shook hands with this man who'd just given mesomething no one else on earth had ever given meI may have even thanked him habit being so strong

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About Me

I freelanced for a year, before accepting a contract with The Times in 2008. Previously I was Scottish features editor of the Sunday Times for about three and half years and prior to that I worked for five years for the Scotsman newspaper, where I wrote news, features, sport, leaders, opinion and diary pieces.
In a previous life I worked as a writer and researcher in a variety of fields including commerical video and museum design. I copy-edited the displays for the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and researched and wrote the Arsenal FC museum at Highbury stadium in London. I am a prize-winning history graduate of Edinburgh University.

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I have had published work commissioned by The Washington Post, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Irish Times, The Cape Argus, the Independent on Sunday, Scotland on Sunday, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, the Scotsman and the Sunday Herald.